Patiently waiting for the Florida Supreme Court to chime in….Florida courts are split as to whether pregnant women are protected under the Florida Civil Rights Act.

There is a conflict within the Florida circuits on the issue of whether the Florida Civil Rights Act (§§ 760.01-010, Florida Statutes) protects against workplace discrimination based on pregnancy. In Delva, the 3^rd DCA held that the FCRA does not prohibit pregnancy discrimination based on the Florida legislature’s failure to add language similar to the PDA [Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act as amended by Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)] to the FCRA when it was enacted in 1992. Delva held that the “legislature did not intend to include a proscription on pregnancy discrimination in the FCRA.” However, the 4^th DCA reversed the lower court’s ruling in Carsillo v. City of Lake Worth, 995 So. 2d 1118 (Fla. 4^th DCA 2008), stating it is well-established that if a Florida statute is patterned after federal law, the Florida statute will be given the same construction as the federal courts give the federal act. State v. Jackson, 650 So.2d 24 (Fla. 1995). The court applied Jackson and held that the FCRA has always prohibited pregnancy discrimination, except for the brief period while Gilbert (1976 U.S. Supreme Court opinion which resulted in the PDA being passed by Congress) was good law. The Carsillo court concluded by stating a prohibition on pregnancy discrimination under the FCRA is consistent with the expressed intent of our legislature and should liberally be construed for victims of employment discrimination. Additionally, the 1^st DCA has also taken the position that the FCRA prohibits workplace discrimination based on pregnancy. O’Loughlin v. Pinchback, 579 So.2d 788 (Fla. 1^st DCA 1991) (upholding the FCHR’s determination that the plaintiff was unlawfully discriminated against when she was terminated due to her pregnancy).

This is a matter of first impression for the Florida Supreme Court and will hopefully answer the question whether pregnant women are, in fact, protected under the Florida Civil Rights Act.

Case Law Alert, 1^st Quarter 2014